The present disclosure relates to tools and methods for use in surgery including arthroscopic surgery.
Conventional screw or fastener driving devices provide different ways of holding a screw in position while the screw is driven into a work material such as a wall, wood, bone, etc. Some drivers include a mechanism to retain a screw against a driver head. Conventional self-retaining bone screwdrivers, however, typically do not have active engagement mechanisms. Most drivers have a passive retaining mechanism that can lead to unintentional disengagement from the driver. For example, one type of conventional screwdriver includes a magnetized driving bit to hold a respective metal screw to the bit during installation. While the magnetic driving bit can initially hold the screw inline with the driver shaft, the driving bit may have poor holding power. As a result, the screw can easily tilt to an undesirable angle when uneven force is applied on the head of the screw, and even disengage from the driver. Other passive retaining mechanisms can have the same drawbacks as a magnetized driving bit in that there is a significant possibility of disengagement. During surgery, having a passive engagement mechanism with a significant risk of disengagement is not acceptable as bone screws could be lost in a surgery site. Drivers with active retaining mechanisms also have drawbacks. Active retaining mechanisms can be cumbersome, use a wider diameter screw/screwdriver, require excessive force to engage/disengage, or have other drawbacks. What is needed, therefore, is a self-retaining bone screwdriver using an active engagement mechanism that is compact and easy to use.